CLIENT
- E-shop operating in the party and carnival costumes segment
- The performance of the e-shop is highly dependent on seasonality
PROBLEM
- During our biggest season, we ran SEA campaigns with Broad Match and one DSA campaign. We used auto bidding (Maximize conversion value). tROAS was set to 6 (KPI), and even though we were constantly optimizing the campaigns, the reality was 2.5.
- Throttling tROAS or reducing budgets led to a side effect. ROAS in the campaigns did not improve this, and the top-selling terms started showing up more in PMAX than in the SEA campaign
SOLUTION
- Search Ads – We decided to keep the bidding strategy and tROAS set at the same value in the campaign. We changed the keywords from free to exact match. We expected a decrease in clicks, impressions, and probably conversions but a significant increase in ROAS
- Dynamic Search Ads – here, we decided to change the bidding strategy and set the portfolio bid strategy to tROAS by capping the max CPC in the campaign settings
RESULTS
- The experiment turned out beyond expectations. Although we had a 35% decrease in Revenue (this is also due to the end of the season. Last year, these campaigns decreased Revenue by as much as 55%, so in terms of YoY comparisons, we have even better results) and our ROAS increased by 124% from 2.39 to 5.35
- Search Ads – We got the tROAS up with both campaigns to meet the client’s goals. In one of the campaigns, Revenue fell by 55%; this drop is due to the end of the season, and when we compared YoY, Revenue did not decrease significantly.
- Dynamic Search Ads – the tactic of capping max CPC yielded much better results compared to SEA campaigns. ROAS improved by 154%, and Revenue only dropped by 27% (last year, the drop in Revenue was larger, and ROAS did not improve). The conversion rate may have worsened, but we got a lot of cheap clicks, and we are meeting the client’s goals
SUMMARY
If your goal is to maximize sales and clickthroughs, BM + Maximize conversion value is the right tactic for Search campaigns. If you can’t follow tROAS, I recommend it:
- Change BM to EM
- Consider capping max CPC – in this case, you need to use a portfolio bid strategy
